


I can't get you out of my mind (I solemnly swear that I'll never try)

by Elisexyz



Series: Closer at heart [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesiac Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), Baelfire | Neal Cassidy Lives, Character Death Fix, Episode: s03e15 Quiet Minds, F/M, Fix-It, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-01-14 15:51:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18479416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: Emma and Neal talk feelings, like the responsible adults they are.





	I can't get you out of my mind (I solemnly swear that I'll never try)

**Author's Note:**

> ...so. This is a thing that's happening, apparently.  
>  I have more or less worked out how to solve the whole Zelena thing in this AU, so... I'm a little reluctant to _promise_ , but I can say that it's _likely_ that I will add more of these. There. Enjoy! <3  
>  (Title from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHx_Utu2fiw).)

“Hey, Henry,” Emma calls, startling both of them because apparently they were _that_ engulfed in their conversation. “It’s late, we should probably head home.”

Henry pouts a little, and Emma can’t help smiling at that, relief washing through her, and Neal too doesn’t look too happy for a moment, but he’s quick to mask it. “Yeah, she’s right, buddy, you should get going,” he agrees, offering her a thankful smile.

“You’re staying overnight, right?” Emma quickly asks, because she _knows_ him, and now that they are going to leave there aren’t many chances of him just staying put. Maybe someone should have stayed over for the night.

Neal opens his mouth to answer, then he closes it, giving her an exasperated look instead. “Come on, I’m fi—”

“ _Don’t_ be dumb,” Emma interrupts, crossing her arms and shooting him a very eloquent look. “It’s just one night. Sleeping here or somewhere else doesn’t make much of a difference, does it?”

“I wouldn’t argue with that tone,” Henry mutters, loud enough for both of them to hear.

Neal grins at him with complicity. “Wise choice,” he says, his voice low. “Okay, one night,” he finally agrees, louder and looking at her. “But _then_ I get discharged, deal?”

“Deal,” Emma sighs, relieved. One night is not _much_ , and if it were for her he’d probably stay trapped in there for the next week or so, just in case, but an overnight stay is in all likelihood the best that she’s going to get out of him.

“Alright,” she says then, gesturing in Henry’s direction. “Time to go. Goodnight, Neal.”

“Bye, Dad,” Henry adds, smiling a little to himself as he says that.

“Bye, Henry,” Neal replies. Then, he hesitates. “Hey, Emma, can we talk for a minute?”

Uh-uh.

“Okay,” she says, slowly. She hands Henry the keys to the Bug. “Go wait in the car, alright? I’ll be there in a minute.”

Henry gives then a pretty suspicious look, but eventually he obeys, waving goodbye on his way out and turning around to check what they are doing. Emma waits until he’s out of sight before turning back towards Neal, walking up to his bed and sitting on it before she remembers that there is a perfectly functional chair over there, she probably should have used that.

Well, too late now.

“So?” she prompts, and she has the very disturbing feeling that she _knows_ what this is about. “What did you want to talk about?”

He hesitates a moment, letting out a nervous laugh as he scratches his neck. “Uh, it’s been— kind of a long day,” he finally says.

“Couldn’t agree more.”

To think that it’s merely been hours since he was literally _dying_ on her— yeah. A long day indeed.

“And we haven’t really had a chance to— talk,” he continues, slowly. “About what happened. The, uh, the kiss, I mean.”

There it is. Wonderful.

“Neal—” she sighs, feeling a little like a whiny kid, but still. “Why do we have to talk about it?”

He snorts. “I think that’s what adults do. Talk?”

“I think we were doing _great_ not talking about it,” she points out, her fingers playing with the sheets.

He shakes his head a little, still grinning the way he does when he’s about to throw up from the nerves. “Okay,” he finally says, looking up at her. “Look. I don’t— what I said, the last time, about not bugging you anymore? That’s still on the table, alright? Just say the word, we can be friends, you won’t hear a word on the subject from me ever again.” He pauses, his eyes dropping for a second. “It doesn’t _have_ to mean anything. I just wanted to ask if it did. That’s all.”

Ah, shit.

Emma snorts, rubbing her face with both hands as she tries to fight the urge to get up and _bolt_. “You know, avoiding this kind of conversation would be a lot easier if you were being a pushy asshole,” she comments, because at that point she could just scream at him and leave.

It’s not that she doesn’t— she loves him, that’s pretty clear to both of them, at this point. They have proof in the form of him being alive at all.

And it’s not that she doesn’t want him around either, because she does, her worry over him while he couldn’t be found when she first arrived to Storybrooke, that conversation about her happiness and then him almost _dying_ all made it pretty clear in her head, it’s just—

One thing is admitting to herself that she wants him around, that he’s good for Henry, that they can all be around each other, that it makes her happy.

Another is sitting there, saying that she isn’t surprised by that True Love’s Kiss, that a part of her has always _known_ and hoped that he’d be back, that she meant it when she said she’d always love him, and that perhaps she wants to give this another try.

Whole other thing.

“Neal,” she finally sighs, just because she knows that if she gets started she’ll have to say something. “It’s all— it’s complicated. I want you around Henry. Around both of us. And—” She falters, and he waits. “And yeah. It meant— something. A lot. It didn’t _change_ anything, it’s just—” She stops, laughing at herself. “I suck at this.”

Neal grins a little too, holding his hand up in dismissal. “It’s fine, I sort of got it.”

She isn’t sure he did, so she swallows, trying to somehow will her heart into not _racing_ like that.

 _You’re not_ dying _, quit being so melodramatic, come on_.

“I don’t want you to stop bugging me,” she gets out, quickly. “That was my point. Don’t—don’t stop that.”

When she dares raising her eyes on Neal, she finds that he’s _beaming_ at her. He’s always been pretty easy to please.

“Okay,” he says, with barely contained enthusiasm. “Okay. I’ll, uh, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Emma can’t help smiling a little, her shoulders much lighter now.

“Alright, so,” she sighs, clapping her hands on her tights and moving to stand up. “Henry’s waiting so—” She vaguely gestures to the door.

Neal quickly nods. “Yeah, yeah, go—” A pause. “Thank you, by the way,” he says then, softly. “For bringing him here.”

“Of course,” she replies, pressing her lips together in a sort of smile. “He wanted to meet you— and you’re his dad, so.” She pauses, already half-way through the door. “Seriously, don’t leave,” she stresses then, because you can never be too sure. “I’m not getting any sleep tonight if I have to keep waiting for someone to call me and say ‘Hey, I just found an idiot faceplanted in the middle of the street’.”

Neal snorts. “I promise. I’ll stay here until morning. You don’t have to worry.”

 _It’s way,_ way _too late for that, I’m afraid_.

“Okay,” she sighs. “Goodnight,” she adds, with a smile that he immediately reciprocates.

“Goodnight.”

 

 

Henry has been obediently waiting for her in the car. As soon as she steps in, he turns to her expectantly.

“What?” she asks, raising her eyebrows as she grabs the keys.

“What did you guys talk about?” he asks.

“You,” Emma is quick to answer. Maybe a little too quick, because Henry looks suspicious as hell. She decides that she’s going to drive, look straight ahead, and deflect like there’s no tomorrow. “So— do you like him?” she asks.

When there are a few too many seconds of silence, she glances at Henry, who finally nods, looking at his hands on his lap as he smiles slightly. “Uh, yeah. He seems cool.” A pause. “He likes some of the same stuff I do. Like comics.”

Emma frowns, because that—that doesn’t feel right. Not that Neal likes comics, she remembers how enthusiastic Henry was about sharing his collection the first time around, but that’s just it: he has just given her very little information, delivered in a very controlled manner and with a lot of hesitancy. Henry usually overshares.

At first she wonders if things maybe didn’t go _that_ well, then she catches him worriedly spying her reaction, and it clicks.

“You know, we’re okay,” she immediately assures, turning for a second so that she can smile at him. “Me and Neal. We’re okay. I’m happy if you want him around, Henry, you don’t have to hold back.”

There’s a worriedly long pause, but Emma decides to wait it out.

“You sure?” Henry finally asks, hesitantly. “I mean— shouldn’t we be mad?”

Emma shrugs. “Are we?”

A beat. “Not really. Not much.”

“That solves it then, doesn’t it? If I’m not mad, and you’re not mad, why force yourself to be?”

“Because he hurt you,” he says, quietly.

Emma glances at him. “I think I can be bought with an extra-everything ice-cream,” she declares, nudging him a little to get a giggle out of him.

It works, and Henry seems to relax a little. She decides to give it another try.

“So, can I know what you two talked about or am I already out of the boys’ club?” she asks, raising her eyebrows.

Henry’s faces brightens up as he’s about to start talking, and Emma’s shoulders relax.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including: 
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


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